When She Cries
by SmallFlower
Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome revisit old wounds. Inspired by the song When She Cries by Restless Heart.    I do not own, or pretend to own, the rights to InuYasha and company. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi.    Thank you to my silent, and unknowing, muse - Sueric


Moonlight shone overhead, bathing the forest floor in a soft, bluish glow. The sounds of the night murmured in the background while the fire below him faded to embers. The soft sigh of the girl below him drew his golden eyes to her sleeping form. InuYasha loved to watch her sleep, not that he'd say as much to her or the rest of their companions. Briefly looking towards the taijiya and monk as he shifted on his perch, he made sure that they were asleep before lighting noiselessly on the ground next to Kagome's sleeping bag.

Her brows furrowed from a dream that disturbed her. Longing to see her smile again, he reached over and smoothed the lines away. She turned her head into his hand and sighed. "Inu… Yasha…" she murmured and then smiled. He sat with her a moment longer, giving into his only weakness. He pulled her sleeping bag up under her chin before leaping effortlessly back up to his perch in the tree above her. She rested peacefully now, so his gaze drifted up to the moon above.

Nearly full, its light was almost blinding to his sensitive eyes. It reminded him of last night, when the light from the moon shone to him through Kagome's eyes; her hurting eyes…

_The road I have traveled on  
Is paved with good intentions  
It's littered with broken dreams  
That never quite came true  
When all of my hopes were dying  
Her love kept me trying  
And she does her best to hide the pain that she's been through_

"Keh", he grunted. What did he care?

"_Baka! You care more than you admit."_

"Shuddup", he growled at the voice in his head. Why did it always sound like that hentai monk? So what if Kikyo's Shini-dama-chuu had been circling over their camp? He hadn't left until after everyone was asleep… or so he thought. He'd gone looking for the dead miko, but she had moved on. When he had returned, a lonely figure was huddled by the dying fire. Shoulders slumped, a distinctive air of melancholy radiated from the usually lively and happy miko.

At his gruff "What are you doing up," she jumped and whirled around. The tears that glistened behind her eyes brought him up short. His comment on how he could have been a rampaging youkai, intent on killing any that stood in the way of it and the Jewel, died on his lips. She turned back to the fire and poked at the embers, enticing them to awaken once more; Kagome needed any warmth right then, even from the impartial fire.

InuYasha crouched next to her, ears drooped, and he fought for some words that would allow her to forgive him. When her words came, they weren't the one's he was expecting.

"It's ok, InuYasha." Softly spoken and seemingly lighthearted to anyone that didn't know her. He snapped his head to the side to stare at her. She refused to look away from the fire that pitifully burned on the dying remains of the firewood that Shippou had gathered earlier. Sighing deeply, she stood up. "I'm going back to sleep." Kagome moved quickly to her sleeping bag, as if it would save her from the pain in her heart.

He didn't move from the fading circle of light by the fire for a long time. When the distinctive salt of her tears drove him to her side, he didn't know what to do. So, he listened to her cry silently deep into the night.

_When she cries at night  
And she doesn't think that I can hear her  
She tries to hide all the fear she feels inside  
So I pray this time  
I can be the man that she deserves  
'Cause I die a little each time  
When she cries _

The memory was uncomfortable. InuYasha shifted around on the branch, as it would ease the disturbance in his mind. He never knew what to do when she cried. Usually, he opted to just sit near her. Tomorrow was the full moon, he mentally noted absently; the night when he tried to stay as far away from Kagome as possible.

"InuYasha?" her voice filtered up to him. Glancing down, she sat at the base of the tree, looking back towards the camp. He grunted a sound similar to his infamous keh'. Kagome sighed and looked up at him. "I'm sorry about last night. I should be used to it by now, I suppose." The last part was more to herself than to him. InuYasha dropped down next to her, scooped her up, and leaped back onto his perch above the forest floor. Draping the long folds of his haori around her, to keep out the night chill, he just sat with her like that for a while… letting her know, in his own way, that he didn't hold anything against her.

When she sighed again, it was one of contentment. She looked up at him and discovered that he scowled at the moon. Like he did earlier, she reached up and smoothed away the frown lines. He grabbed her hand and held it while his gaze shifted to hers.

_She's always been there for me  
Whenever I've fallen  
When nobody else believed  
She'd be there by my side  
I don't know how she takes it _

_Just once I'd like to make it  
Then there'll be tears of joy  
That fill her loving eyes _

Staring into the swirling, golden depths that were InuYasha's eyes, Kagome suddenly found herself without breath. It seemed like they were trying to tell her something. Fear, confusion, and desire shone through but it was the last emotion that gave her the most pause. How could he desire her, Kagome, when all he's ever wanted was Kikyo? It reminded her of the time when he had almost kissed her… well not her, but Kikyo which he saw in her. Just because she was the miko's reincarnation didn't mean they were one in the same.

Unbidden, tears filled her eyes again but refused to fall. InuYasha seemed to snap out of whatever spell he was under and sat up straight.

"What? Why are you crying _now_, wench?" He asked, more gruffly than he had intended. Shaking her head, Kagome nearly told him, right then and there, her hearts desire. Instead, she gave him the smile that she knew that would halt anymore questions. However, it didn't work this time. "Keh! You're more erratic than a wind youkai! One minute, you're crying, the next you're smiling!"

"What do you care, baka!" Her anger flared up. "All you care about is Kikyo and the Shikon no Tama"

Surprised, InuYasha said that first thing that came to his mind, "That's not true." Kagome gasped and waited, on a hope, for what he would add. "I also care about finding and destroying Naraku."

Kagome could hardly believe her ears. Pushing against his chest, she tried to stand up, forgetting she was high in a tree. InuYasha grabbed her and dropped to the ground with her securely in his arms. He knew she would be stubborn enough to try and climb, or even fly, down herself.

"InuYasha no baka!!" She screamed once her feet had touched the ground. "Sit! Sit! Sit! SIT!" Kagome said each command while stalking back to her sleeping bag. The reverberations of InuYasha slamming into the ground didn't hinder her gate but certainly broke into the peaceful slumber of the rest of their party.

"Baka," mumbled Sango, the taijiya. She didn't need to know the reason behind Kagome's outburst to know that InuYasha deserved every "sit" he got. Not far from her, the monk, Miroku, blinked and only shook his head before turning over to get back to sleep. Shippou, the fox kit youkai, sat up sharply as if woken suddenly from a deep sleep. Kagome scooped him up in her arms and climbed back into her sleeping bag with him tight in her grasp. All but the miko and the hanyou were back to sleep within minutes.

_When she cries at night  
And she doesn't think that I can hear her  
She tries to hide all the fear she feels inside  
So I pray this time  
I can be the man that she deserves  
'Cause I die a little each time  
When she cries_

When the spell of subjugation wore off, InuYasha was hopping mad. "_What the fuck was THAT for, bitch_?" His voice yelled in her ear.

"For leaving out your friends" she yelled right back at him. "So you don't care about us at all? I'm only the jewel-detector, right! How could I ever forget?" The venom behind her voice was punctuated by the salt of her re-formed tears. InuYasha didn't think. He scooped her, her sleeping bag and the sleeping kit into his lap in one fell swoop.

"Keh," His voice was softer as he held her. As if the feel of her in his arms tempered his rage at being forced to make a hanyou-shaped crater. "Stupid wench."

She took his tone and word for what they were. His versions of apologies were never normal to anyone's standards. Kagome's anger dissipated as quickly as it had come on. Content to be in his arms once more, she finally gave into sleep once more. InuYasha looked at her long into the night. The moon waxed and waned overhead, an ever present reminder that he was not alone in the night. "Kagome," he murmured over her. He promised himself that he wouldn't tell her how much she meant to him until they had defeated Naraku and the Jewel was complete once more. Then, and only then, perhaps he would deserve her…

_So I pray this time  
I can be the man that she deserves  
'Cause I die a little each time  
When she cries_

I do not own, or pretend to own, the rights to InuYasha and company. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Thank you to my silent, and unknowing, muse - Sueric.


End file.
